


Sidelines

by Britt_is_Sweet_Like_Sugar



Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Minor Coarse language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 15:05:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7537465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Britt_is_Sweet_Like_Sugar/pseuds/Britt_is_Sweet_Like_Sugar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six Peaceful months after our move to London. Just Me, Myself and I. Who do these guys think they are?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sidelines

**Author's Note:**

> Depending on the reception of this peace, this is just a one-shot. Or it may be a collection of one shots. Though, I should warn you, I wrote this first one when my 15-year-old heart was still hung up on One Direction and I haven't worked on it since; I'm now 20 and have distanced myself from the label 'Directioner'. Still a fan and definitely not a hipster because some things I'm interested in are still mainstream. Anyway, if you like to read more of this 'verse just comment an event, occasion or a prompt - e.g 'the 7 hour 1D Stream', birthdays, holidays, tours etc. - I'll see what I can write up! So if you found this, enjoy!

**I walk down the silent empty hall of** the 36 th floor in our apartment complex to the elevator. With my iPhone in hand, I skim through my playlist to pick the first song to get me through the day.

I moved here in England with my family from Australia at the beginning of 2011, about six months we've lived here, and not once have I seen the only other apartment on our floor occupied...strange, right? It’s a two loft apartment floor and when we moved to England, our real estate agent said that each apartment had three bedrooms, which means a room to myself. Although, she did say there are two people living in the other apartment, best mates in some sort of band, but I’ve never seen them once. Plus, I highly doubt there are other families living in this building. It’s bloody expensive! How we could afford such a thing, still amazes me. I know for certain there are a few retired couples and a small, very tiny, number of uni students living here. Do any of them want to hang out with a 15-year-old girl? I don’t think so. As a result, I have no friends.

Once I reach the elevator, I press the button to go down and the doors open with a ding. I walk in and press the ground floor button. During the ride down I place my iPhone 4s earphones in and listen to Short Stack, an Aussie rock band, their song Drop Dead Gorgeous blasting through my ears. God, I love this band so much! My absolute favourite music group. It even amazes me that they produce everything from music to music videos, all on their own. Sure there may be other musicians like them but they are pretty big back in Australia.

The doors open and I push through a group of five boys, not really paying much attention to the looks they were giving me. Probably uni students judging me, never was the most gorgeous girl at my old school, nor the most intelligent. I walk out of the lobby and catch a bus to the nearest dance studio.

 

After spending two hours in the vacant dance studio, I decide to head back. On the bus ride back, I mentally rehearse the dance routine I choreographed to Strip by Chris Brown. I get off at my stop and walk to the apartment complex.

In the lobby the song changes from Strip to Lady Marmalade from the _Moulin Rouge!_ soundtrack. As I wait for the elevator doors to open I mentally choreograph a dance routine to the song, taking note of each move.

Again, during the ride up, I listen to Short Stack, this time their song Planets blasting through my earphones. I walk down the hall, not even noticing the other apartment door opening, and open the door to my own apartment. I pull out one of my earphones as I do a quick scan and call out; “Hello?” No one responds. It’s just me left in my home, now. My mother, stepfather and sister must all be out. Just before I shut the door, I nearly jump at the collective sound of unexpected voices.

“Hi, there.”

“Shit!” I exclaim, turning around with wide eyes and my hand clasping to my heart. Standing in front of me are five boys. Five boys that are definitely not uni students because they look around my age and too young to be staying on campus, all grinning at me as if they are pleased with my reaction. Was it their intention to give a young teen girl a heart attack? “Who are you?!” I question, my other hand clutching to the door knob for dear life, and I watch as their grinning faces slowly morph into confusion.

“You don’t…” one of the boys with insanely curly hair, there’s another boy but this one is pretty impressive, begins but pauses and I can see the cogs turning as he tries to find the right word, “You don’t recognise us?”

Now it’s my turn to be confused as I incredulously look at him. “In what world does a person recognise people if they’ve never even met or seen them before?” I counter with what I think is a valid question, “Am I supposed to?”

“I think what our mate, Harry, is trying to say…” the second boy with curly hair interjects as he steps from behind the group, holding out his hand, and as I look closely, this one’s got massive eyebrows, “It’s nice to, finally, meet his and Lou’s neighbour; I’m Liam.”

I slowly take his hand to shake, biting my tongue to stop myself from pointing out his eyebrows. At least it’s comforting to know there are people with proper manners these days. “Nice to meet you, I’m Brittany,” I introduce myself before Liam pulls his hand away, “Lou?”

A grin returns to one of the remaining three boys. Quite short, if I do say so myself, as I’m nearly as tall as him. He steps up, lightly pushing Liam to the side. “Otherwise known as Superman,” he decides to add, holding out his hand to shake mine, “But Lou is short for Louis.”

“Noted,” I nod before averting my gaze to the last two, one blonde but obviously dyed and one dark haired, “And what about you, guys?”

The blonde is the first to step up with a friendly smile filled with crooked teeth. It looks adorable actually, even though he still looks like a baby but he’s probably the youngest. “Niall, and I’m a hugger,” he states in a thick accent before pulling me in for a brief hug. Okay, so he’s not English, like the first three, actually, now that I think about, their accents are all slightly different but Niall’s is the most distinct. “I’m from Ireland,” he states, seeming to read half my thoughts at the moment, as he pulls away before pushing forward the last of the boys, “And this is Zayn, though, you won’t get many words from him.”

The other three snicker behind him at the statement as I shake hands with Zayn. Must be true, at least, because he doesn’t look offended and judging by his features, he must be of Middle Eastern decent, because he is the most gorgeous looking of the five. Louis is not bad looking either with his blue eyes standing out from his brown hair but he looks just as young as Niall. Harry’s eyes also stand out but they are a bright green with a cheeky grin, almost resembling the Cheshire Cat from _Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland_ with Jake T. Austin in the mix. Finally, Liam; his eyes are brown, like Zayn’s, but he reminds me of a puppy dog, if more than anything. All of them have straight teeth with the exception of Niall but that just makes him all the more adorable. Actually, now that I’m inspecting them…

“Wait…” I begin, taking my hand and I nearly slap myself as a light bulb switches on, “Now I know where I’ve seen you guys before.”

Zayn just looks at me with eyes holding a mixture of disappointment and a tad bit of relief. Almost to say to me _‘You do?’_ and the four boys standing behind him seem to have the same expression

Even though none of them verbally asked anything, I decide to answer any way. “You’re the boys from the lobby earlier,” I shrug, “Thought you were uni students, my bad.”

At my revelation, they all seem to relax, grateful for my response. Um, okay…who are these guys? Hands down they take the award for the strangest group of boys I’ve ever met! That’s saying something, considering how my mates – well, ex-mates – from Australia are.

“Are you American?” Louis abruptly questions before rushing to add, “Because by the sound of it, you could very well be from the States.”

I shake my head as I quietly laugh to myself. So, he’s picked up on my adopted accent. “No,” I answer before explaining, “Actually, my family and I moved here from Australia about six months ago, but my stepfather is from the States and has been living with us for five years, guess I picked it up.”

Four of them become even more confused, most likely trying to figure out how that works and/or why we didn’t just move to the States, but Niall’s eyes light up with sudden realization; “So, that’s why you haven’t- Shit!” His hand flies up, under his rib cage, after Liam sharply nudged him to shut him up. Why would he want Niall to shut up? Eh, I have already come to the conclusion that they are strange.

“Why don’t you come over so we can get to know you more?” Liam invites me, gesturing to the open door to the apartment across from me.

I lean to the left to look past them and into the door before my eyes focus back on them. I don’t know if I should trust them and where the hell have Harry and Louis been for the past six months that I haven’t seen them before. Plus, I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to befriend a group of boys, not after what happened last time. “Sorry, have to pass,” I finally answer, stepping further into the safety of my own apartment, “But it’s nice to meet you, all of you really.”

“When can we see you, again?” Harry quickly interjects as I start closing the door.

“Most likely…” I begin with an apologetic shrug, “Never, I’m going to be busy with school and have to find a job, soon.” With that, I quickly, but gently, shut the door before either of them could change my mind.


End file.
